The Year of the Three Kings - 1066 AD

Author

File Description

Frostius

Posted on 10/15/00 @ 12:00 AM

File Details

Version:

Age of Kings 1.0

Style:

Mix

Introduction

Our story begins in the Year of Our Lord 1089. King William, whom history has already dubbed "the Conqueror", is some two years in the grave and in his place reigns his son, William Rufus. It is time for an old English warrior to come home.

Once a powerful Thegn, Huscarl and trusted war leader to Harold Godwinson, Lord Edgar has now taken the cloth. Under his new identity as Brother Thomas, Edgar returns to his old home in Wessex to find it in ruins. This comes as little surprise; life under the Norman yoke was harsh for the vanquished English nobility and particularly for those known to have been close friends to the slain King Harold.

Yet it is amongst the ruins that Edgar encounters an old acquaintance; a peasant archer who once served in the fyrd levy. Having lived almost as a hermit for many years, the archer does not recognise Edgar at first and then, believing him killed in 1066, takes him to be a ghost. However, after finally accepting Edgar as a mortal being, the archer then beseeches Edgar to recount his part in the tale of Harold Godwinson.

Reluctantly, Edgar agrees and after apologising for his inadequacies as a storyteller, the mists of time are rolled back and Edgar is once more a huscarl in Harold's army...

Scenario Description

- The Year of the Three Kings charts the events which led up to and followed the Norman Conquest of 1066 as seen through the eyes of one of King Harold's loyal huscarls.

- You play Edgar for much of the game and bear witness to the death of King Edward "the Confessor", the rise and fall of King Harold Godwinson and the eventual crowning on Christmas Day 1066 of King William I.

Wow! This is one of the best scenarios i have played thus far for AOK! Even though this is justo one scenario, it feels more like a whole campaign. I had lots of fun with this scenario, however i am giving a score of 4 instead of 5 because of several minor bugs that, althought they have very little effect in the gameplay, they could have been eliminated if the scenario was playtested a bit. The scenario was also laggy, but that is probably because my PC is rather old. Map design is not very special, it is better than a random map, but naught that deserves a 5. Balance was the poorest part of the scenario, the quests all may seem challenging, but after a while it is easy to realize that they are not very hard. The enemy does not come after you, it just sits waiting. The battle at the bridge could be a big point of the scenario, but massed arbalests make the whole thing very easy.

These are the bad things (though none of them is excessively bad). Now the good part: This scenario has some of the most creative ideas i have ever seen! The way the story is told, the final quest, the handling of techonolgies and specially cartography are new and very welcome ideas to AOK scenarios. The story is perhaps the best i have ever found for a AOK scenario, being a powerful rival to campaigns such as "The king's best men". The author is truly to be congratulated in these two aspects.

Overall, i would recommend this scenario for just about anyone. It is fast and not very hard. If you are looking for a challenge, though, you might also want to take a look at this scenario anyway just for the excellent storyline. I would like to encourage the author to make a new version of this scenario and try to improve the challenge it offers and fix the bugs, or make a Expansion version of the scenario.